DOCSLIB.ORG

A303 Stonehenge Consultation Booklet

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

A303 Stonehenge Amesbury to Berwick Down Public Consultation Booklet – February 2018 Public consultation extended to Monday 23 April 2018 About this booklet Contents Local life, regional growth, Chapter Page national heritage: it’s in all our interests About this booklet 2 1 Foreword 4 This booklet is about our consultation on proposals for improving 2 About Highways England 5 the A303 past Stonehenge between Amesbury and Berwick Down, 3 Introduction 6 including a bypass for the village of Winterbourne Stoke. It is designed 4 What we are consulting on and why 10 to be read alongside our consultation response form which will help you provide feedback to the consultation. It also explains the ways you can 5 The proposed scheme 12 give your views. 6 What our scheme means for you 50 7 How to find out more 64 8 How to have your say 65 9 Next steps 66 2 3 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 1 Foreword 2 About Highways England “Delivering a high-quality road, The scheme will also improve the quality of life for local communities by providing a bypass for Winterbourne Stoke and relieving rat running What we do unlocking benefits for the South through local villages such as Shrewton, Larkhill and Durrington. Highways England operates, maintains and improves England’s motorways and major A-roads, West economy, local communities Since the preferred route for the scheme was announced in the strategic road network. Our network totals around and the Stonehenge World September 2017, we have been developing our design to ensure we 4,300 miles. While this represents only 2% of all achieve the best balance between maximising benefits and minimising roads in England by length, these roads carry a third Heritage Site.” environmental impacts. of all traffic by mileage and two-thirds of all heavy goods traffic. Thank you for taking an interest in this public consultation on the There are still important details for us to finalise before we submit our A303 Stonehenge scheme. The consultation is an important step planning application to build the scheme. This consultation is your England’s strategic road network forms the economic towards delivering this scheme which will bring significant benefits opportunity to help us finalise these details. backbone of the country, is open 24 hours a day, for the South West economy, local communities and the Stonehenge seven days a week, and is relied on by communities World Heritage Site. In this document we have described the core elements of the and businesses to get from A to B. scheme, the key benefits and impacts, and have indicated where Highways England is committed to delivering a high quality, high you can find out more. We are asking a series of questions on what Our ambition is to ensure all our major roads are performing route along the A303/A358 corridor between the South we would like feedback on, but you can also provide feedback on more dependable, durable and, most importantly, West and the South East. Removing the traffic bottleneck past any aspect of the scheme. safe. In pursuit of that aim, we are delivering £23 Stonehenge will improve connectivity and help open up the South West, billion of investment on our network as described in unlocking economic and social benefits for the region as part of the Please take this opportunity to get involved and let us know what you the Government’s Road Investment Strategy (RIS). Government’s £23 billion investment in roads across the country. think by Monday 23 April 2018. Your feedback will help create the best possible scheme for this iconic, world-renowned landscape. The A303 Stonehenge scheme is part of the We are proposing a tunnel to remove the A303 and its traffic from programme of investment set out in the RIS. a large part of the Stonehenge landscape. Reconnecting the iconic Stones with surrounding ancient monuments will help restore the natural setting and tranquillity lost for generations. Derek Parody A303 Stonehenge Project Director, Highways England 4 5 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 3 Introduction The story so far As part of the most direct route between the South East and the South M5 Warminster A303 Stonehenge West, the A303 at Stonehenge plays a big part in the daily lives of tens Shepton Mallet A361 of thousands of people, and for many it can be a daily struggle. A361 A303 Wylye to Stockton Wood A303 A39 Bridgwater A350 The Government’s aim is to transform A338 Average traffic flows along the single carriageway section between A37 A36 Amesbury and Berwick Down are twice what it was designed for and all remaining single carriageway the road is even busier in the summer tourist period. A303 Chicklade Bottom to Mere Salisbury sections of the A303/A358 corridor into A303 Podimore Roundabout A303 Sparkford to Ilchester A358 Taunton to Southfields The existing road passes just 165 metres from the Stonehenge Taunton a high quality dual carriageway route A303 monument and cuts the World Heritage Site in two. Previous proposals A358 Shaftesbury A38 A303 Cartgate Roundabout over the past 30 years were unable to find a solution that met the to the South West, where mile-a-minute A350 A354 challenge of tackling this in an acceptable and affordable way. A338 journeys are the norm. Yeovil But now the Government is committed to upgrading the A303 at A303 A303 South Petherton to Southfields Stonehenge as part of the current Road Investment Strategy. The Motorway detailed work undertaken in recent years has resulted in a proposed In pursuit of the Government’s aim, eight schemes have A37 The A303/A358 Corridor scheme that we believe succeeds in meeting this challenge. been identified as shown in Figure 1. A Road Current Planned Schemes Honiton Future Planned A354 Schemes A35 Figure 1: A303/A358 Corridor schemes 6 7 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Booklet 2018 The aim of the scheme More information Timeline to statutory consultation The A303 scheme near Stonehenge will help unlock economic growth For more information about the A303/A358 Corridor and in the South West by transforming journey reliability, increasing safety this scheme’s place within it please refer to our booklets: and improving connectivity with neighbouring regions, while protecting Late 2014 Throughout 2016 March-September 2017 September 2017 - or enhancing the environment. � Improving journeys to the South West: The case for February 2018 the A303/A358 Corridor, February 2018 The Government published its Road Extensive assessment Further assessment To make sure we achieve this, the scheme has four key objectives: � The A303 Stonehenge: Amesbury to Berwick Down, Investment Strategy which includes of a full range of and refinement of the Development of The case for the scheme, February 2018 a commitment to fund improvements alternative options for route options presented the preferred route, 1. Transport: To create a high quality reliable route between the South to the A303 between Amesbury and the A303 Stonehenge for consultation, taking enabling detailed East and the South West that meets the future needs of traffic. To find out more about the options assessment Berwick Down, including a bypass scheme. into consideration the proposals to be put 2. Economic growth: To enable growth in jobs and housing by process leading to the choice of options presented for of Winterbourne Stoke and a tunnel feedback received. forward for further providing a free-flowing and reliable connection between the South consultation in 2017, please see the A303 Stonehenge; at least 1.8 miles long past the public consultation. East and the South West. Amesbury to Berwick Down Technical Appraisal Report Stonehenge monument. 3. Cultural heritage: To help conserve and enhance the World and the A303 Stonehenge; Amesbury to Berwick Down Heritage Site and to make it easier to reach and explore. Public Consultation Booklet - January 2017. 4. Environment and community: To improve biodiversity and provide a positive legacy for nearby communities. For analysis of the 2017 consultation feedback, please see the A303 Stonehenge, Amesbury to Berwick Down: Report on Public Consultation – September 2017. Early 2016 Early 2017 September 2017 In February 2016, a Between 12 January 2017 On 12 September For assessment of the options presented at the 2017 series of information and 5 March 2017, we held 2017, the Secretary consultation leading to the choice of the Preferred Route, events were held along a public consultation to ask of State announced please see the A303 Stonehenge, Amesbury to Berwick the A303/A358 corridor for views on the scheme the preferred route Down: Scheme Assessment Report – September 2017. to raise public awareness proposals that had emerged for the scheme. of the planned schemes from the extensive assessment All the above documents can be viewed at along the corridor. of alternative options. www.highways.gov.uk/A303Stonehenge/consultation 8 9 A303 Stonehenge:A303 Stonehenge: Public Consultation Public Consultation Booklet 2018 A303 Stonehenge Public Consultation Booklet 2018 4 What we are consulting on and why A345 What Why A360 River Avon We are consulting on our proposals to upgrade the A303 past Because of its size, the A303 Stonehenge scheme is categorised as Larkhill Stonehenge between Amesbury and Berwick Down to a dual two-lane a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. Applications to build Durrington carriageway. The scheme is approximately 8 miles (nearly 13 kilometres) schemes like these are submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on behalf Stonehenge long and comprises the following key elements (see Figure 4.1): of the Secretary of State for Transport, rather than the local planning Shrewton visitor centre authority (Wiltshire Council).
Recommended publications
  • Wiltshire Botany

    Wiltshire Botany

    WILTSHIRE BOTANY JOURNAL OF THE WILTSHIRE BOTANICAL SOCIETY ISSUE NO. 3, February 2000 CONTENTS 1 E DITORIAL 2 The Flora of Berwick St. James Barbara Last 15 Grassland Communities on Salisbury Plain Training Area: Results of the ITE ecological survey Kevin Walker and Richard Pywell 28 The recent history of Batology in Wiltshire Rob Randall 33 Plant records 1997 35 Addition to 1996 records 36 Plant records 1998 Wiltshire Botany 3, 2000, page1 EDITORIAL Each issue of Wiltshire Botany so far has managed to break new ground. This issue contains the first village flora to be included. Barbara Last has systematically recorded the plants growing in Berwick St James, and her article gives an account of her findings. Hopefully, it will inspire others to do similar work in their own localities. Our second article is the first systematic account we have published on the vegetation of Salisbury Plain. In this case, Kevin Walker and Richard Pywell describe the grassland communities of the MoD Training Area. Kevin and Richard can be contacted at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, Cambs., PE17 2LS. Tel. 01487 773381.Fax. 01487 773467. Email; [email protected] Innovation is complemented by continuity. Rob Randall’s article continues his account of the history of recording the many different species of bramble in Wiltshire. His account brings us more or less up to the present day. It is hoped that the next issue will contain what is effectively an up-to-date bramble flora of Wiltshire. As in previous issues, a selection of the Society’s plant records is included.
  • Concrete Prehistories: the Making of Megalithic Modernism 1901-1939

    Concrete Prehistories: the Making of Megalithic Modernism 1901-1939

    Concrete Prehistories: The Making of Megalithic Modernism Abstract After water, concrete is the most consumed substance on earth. Every year enough cement is produced to manufacture around six billion cubic metres of concrete1. This paper investigates how concrete has been built into the construction of modern prehistories. We present an archaeology of concrete in the prehistoric landscapes of Stonehenge and Avebury, where concrete is a major component of megalithic sites restored between 1901 and 1964. We explore how concreting changed between 1901 and the Second World War, and the implications of this for constructions of prehistory. We discuss the role of concrete in debates surrounding restoration, analyze the semiotics of concrete equivalents for the megaliths, and investigate the significance of concreting to interpretations of prehistoric building. A technology that mixes ancient and modern, concrete helped build the modern archaeological imagination. Concrete is the substance of the modern –”Talking about concrete means talking about modernity” (Forty 2012:14). It is the material most closely associated with the origins and development of modern architecture, but in the modern era, concrete has also been widely deployed in the preservation and display of heritage. In fact its ubiquity means that concrete can justifiably claim to be the single most dominant substance of heritage conservation practice between 1900 and 1945. This paper investigates how concrete has been built into the construction of modern pasts, and in particular, modern prehistories. As the pre-eminent marker of modernity, concrete was used to separate ancient from modern, but efforts to preserve and display prehistoric megaliths saw concrete and megaliths become entangled.
  • Stonehenge Bibliography

    Stonehenge Bibliography

    Bibliography Abbot, M. and Anderson-Whymark, H., 2012. Anon., 2011a, Discoveries provide evidence of Stonehenge Laser Scan: archaeological celestial procession at Stonehenge. On-line analysis report. English Heritage project source available at: 6457. English Heritage Research Report http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/ Series no. 32-2012, available at: 2011/11/25Nov-Discoveries-provide- http://services.english- evidence-of-a-celestial-procession-at- herita ge.org.uk/Resea rch Repo rtsPdf s/032_ Stonehenge.aspx (accessed 2 April 2012). 2012WEB.pdf Anon., 2011b, Stonehenge’s sister? Current Alexander, C., 2009, If the stones could speak: Archaeology, 260, 6–7. Searching for the meaning of Stonehenge. Anon., 2011c, Home is where the heath is. National Geographic, 213.6 (June 2008), Late Neolithic house, Durrington Walls. 34–59. Current Archaeology, 256, 42–3. Allen, S., 2008, The quest for the earliest Anon., 2011d, Stonehenge rocks. Current published image of Stonehinge (sic). Archaeology, 254, 6–7. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural Anon., 2012a, Origin of some of the Bluestone History Magazine, 101, 257–9. debris at Stonehenge. British Archaeology, Anon., 2006, Excavation and Fieldwork in 123, 9. Wiltshire 2004. Wiltshire Archaeological Anon., 2012b, Stonehenge: sourcing the and Natural History Magazine, 99, 264–70. Bluestones. Current Archaeology, 263, 6– Anon., 2007a, Excavation and Fieldwork in 7. Wiltshire 2005. Wiltshire Archaeological Aronson, M., 2010, If stones could speak. and Natural History Magazine, 100, 232– Unlocking the secrets of Stonehenge. 39. Washington DC: National Geographic. Anon., 2007b, Before Stonehenge: village of Avebury Archaeological and Historical wild parties. Current Archaeology, 208, Research Group (AAHRG) 2001 17–21.
  • Stonehenge OCR Spec B: History Around Us

    Stonehenge OCR Spec B: History Around Us

    OCR HISTORY AROUND US Site Proposal Form Example from English Heritage The Criteria The study of the selected site must focus on the relationship between the site, other historical sources and the aspects listed in a) to n) below. It is therefore essential that centres choose a site that allows learners to use its physical features, together with other historical sources as appropriate, to understand all of the following: a) The reasons for the location of the site within its surroundings b) When and why people first created the site c) The ways in which the site has changed over time d) How the site has been used throughout its history e) The diversity of activities and people associated with the site f) The reasons for changes to the site and to the way it was used g) Significant times in the site’s past: peak activity, major developments, turning points h) The significance of specific features in the physical remains at the site i) The importance of the whole site either locally or nationally, as appropriate j) The typicality of the site based on a comparison with other similar sites k) What the site reveals about everyday life, attitudes and values in particular periods of history l) How the physical remains may prompt questions about the past and how historians frame these as valid historical enquiries m) How the physical remains can inform artistic reconstructions and other interpretations of the site n) The challenges and benefits of studying the historic environment 1 Copyright © OCR 2018 Site name: STONEHENGE Created by: ENGLISH HERITAGE LEARNING TEAM Please provide an explanation of how your site meets each of the following points and include the most appropriate visual images of your site.
  • Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present

    Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present

    Parker Pearson, M 2013 Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present. Archaeology International, No. 16 (2012-2013): 72-83, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1601 ARTICLE Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present Mike Parker Pearson* Over the years archaeologists connected with the Institute of Archaeology and UCL have made substantial contributions to the study of Stonehenge, the most enigmatic of all the prehistoric stone circles in Britain. Two of the early researchers were Petrie and Childe. More recently, colleagues in UCL’s Anthropology department – Barbara Bender and Chris Tilley – have also studied and written about the monument in its landscape. Mike Parker Pearson, who joined the Institute in 2012, has been leading a 10-year-long research programme on Stonehenge and, in this paper, he outlines the history and cur- rent state of research. Petrie and Childe on Stonehenge William Flinders Petrie (Fig. 1) worked on Stonehenge between 1874 and 1880, publishing the first accurate plan of the famous stones as a young man yet to start his career in Egypt. His numbering system of the monument’s many sarsens and blue- stones is still used to this day, and his slim book, Stonehenge: Plans, Descriptions, and Theories, sets out theories and observations that were innovative and insightful. Denied the opportunity of excavating Stonehenge, Petrie had relatively little to go on in terms of excavated evidence – the previous dig- gings had yielded few prehistoric finds other than antler picks – but he suggested that four theories could be considered indi- vidually or in combination for explaining Stonehenge’s purpose: sepulchral, religious, astronomical and monumental.
  • Settlement Hierarchy and Social Change in Southern Britain in the Iron Age

    Settlement Hierarchy and Social Change in Southern Britain in the Iron Age

    SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN SOUTHERN BRITAIN IN THE IRON AGE BARRY CUNLIFFE The paper explores aspects of the social and economie development of southern Britain in the pre-Roman Iron Age. A distinct territoriality can be recognized in some areas extending over many centuries. A major distinction can be made between the Central Southern area, dominated by strongly defended hillforts, and the Eastern area where hillforts are rare. It is argued that these contrasts, which reflect differences in socio-economic structure, may have been caused by population pressures in the centre south. Contrasts with north western Europe are noted and reference is made to further changes caused by the advance of Rome. Introduction North western zone The last two decades has seen an intensification Northern zone in the study of the Iron Age in southern Britain. South western zone Until the early 1960s most excavation effort had been focussed on the chaiklands of Wessex, but Central southern zone recent programmes of fieid-wori< and excava­ Eastern zone tion in the South Midlands (in particuiar Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire) and in East Angiia (the Fen margin and Essex) have begun to redress the Wessex-centred balance of our discussions while at the same time emphasizing the social and economie difference between eastern England (broadly the tcrritory depen- dent upon the rivers tlowing into the southern part of the North Sea) and the central southern are which surrounds it (i.e. Wessex, the Cots- wolds and the Welsh Borderland. It is upon these two broad regions that our discussions below wil! be centred.
  • A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down TR010025 6.3 Environmental Statement Appendices Volume 1 6 Appendix 6.1 Annex 8 Influences of the monuments and landscape of the Stonehenge part of the World Heritage Site on literature and popular culture APFP Regulation 5(2)(a) Planning Act 2008 Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009 October 2018 HIA Annex 8 – Influences of the monuments and landscape of the Stonehenge part of the WHS on literature and popular culture Introduction Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1986, one of the original list of seven sites in the UK to be put forward for inscription. The Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) was adopted in 2013. The Statement of OUV notes that ‘the monuments and landscape have had an unwavering influence on architects, artists, historians and archaeologists’ (UNESCO 2013). The 2015 Management Plan (Simmonds & Thomas 2015) identifies seven Attributes of OUV for the entirety of the WHS, of which the seventh is: ‘The influence of the remains of the Neolithic and Bronze Age funerary and ceremonial monuments and their landscape setting on architects, artists, historians, archaeologists and others.’ The landscape around Stonehenge, comprising natural and cultural elements, is not just a physical environment, but an abstraction that is perceived by the human observer. Such observers have included literary writers, poets and travel writers, who have used their sense of the place as they experienced it to inspire their creative writing. The unique strength of Stonehenge is that the monument is an instantly recognisable structure which resembles no other and onto which a range of fantasies can be projected (Hutton 2009, 45).
  • Stonehenge A303 Improvement: Outline Assessment of the Impacts

    Stonehenge A303 Improvement: Outline Assessment of the Impacts

    Stonehenge A303 improvement: outline assessment of the impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage property of potential route options presented by Highways England for January 2017 Nicola Snashall BA MA PhD MCIfA National Trust Christopher Young BA MA DPhil FSA Christopher Young Heritage Consultancy January 2017 ©Historic England and the National Trust Stonehenge A303 improvements: outline assessment of the impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage property of potential route options presented by Highways England for January 2017 Executive Summary Introduction In 2014, English Heritage (now Historic England) and the National Trust commissioned an assessment (Snashall, Young 2014) on the potential impact of new road options, including a tunnel, for the A303 within the Stonehenge component of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage property. Since at that time, there were no detailed proposals, that report considered four possible alternatives and concluded that, of these, an off-line route with a tunnel of 2.9kms length would be the most deliverable solution. The government remains committed to improving the A303 and to funding sufficient for a tunnel of at least 2.9kms length within the World Heritage property. Highways England are consulting in early 2017 on route options developed since 2014 for this road scheme through the World Heritage property and bypassing Winterbourne Stoke village to the west. This report is an outline assessment of these initial options on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the World Heritage property. It has been commissioned to assess the impact of the latest road options in the light of updated archaeological information.
  • A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down 8 e m TR010025 u l o V Deadline 4 8.30.6 - Written summaries of oral submissions put at Traffic and Transport hearing on 13th June 2019 APFP Regulation 5(2)(q) Planning Act 2008 The Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 June 2019 A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Infrastructure Planning Planning Act 2008 The Infrastructure Planning (Examination Procedure) Rules 2010 A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Development Consent Order 20[**] Written summaries of oral submissions put at Traffic and Transport hearing on 13th June 2019 Regulation Number: Regulation 5(2)(q) Planning Inspectorate Scheme TR010025 Reference Application Document Reference 8.30.6 Author: A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Project Team, Highways England Version Date Status of Version Rev 0 21 June 2019 Deadline 4 Issue A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 3 METHODOLOGY AND MODELLING............................................................... 3 4 PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY ............................................................................... 8 5 CONSTRUCTION TRAFFIC .......................................................................... 22 6 OPERATIONAL TRAFFIC .............................................................................. 23 7 ASSESSMENT OF OTHER SUGGESTED ROUTES .................................... 27 8 ECONOMIC AND BENEFIT COST RATIO ASSESSMENT ..........................
  • A303 Stonehenge Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Stonehenge Amesbury to Berwick Down

    A303 Stonehenge Amesbury to Berwick Down Ploughzone Artefact Sampling and Trial Trench Evaluation: Rollestone Corner April 2019 Table of contents Chapter Pages Foreword 4 Executive Summary 5 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Project Background 6 1.2 Scope of the document 6 2 Site Description 8 2.1 Location, topography and geology 8 2.2 Archaeological and historical background 8 2.3 Previous Archaeological Fieldwork 13 3 Aims and Objectives 16 3.1 Introduction 16 3.2 Aims 16 3.3 Specific research objectives 17 4 Methods 18 4.1 Introduction 18 4.2 Ploughsoil artefact sampling 18 4.3 Trial trenching 19 4.4 Recording 19 4.5 Finds and environmental strategies 20 4.6 Monitoring 20 5 Results 21 5.1 Introduction 21 5.2 Soil sequence and natural features 21 5.3 Archaeological features and deposits 22 5.4 Ploughsoil artefact sampling (fieldwalking) and dry sieving of ploughsoil from trial trenches 23 6 Artefactual evidence 25 6.1 Introduction 25 6.2 Pottery 25 6.3 Flint 26 6.4 Other finds 27 7 Environmental evidence 29 7.1 Introduction 29 7.2 Aims and methods 29 7.3 Results 29 8 Archaeological Potential and Significance 30 8.1 Introduction 30 8.2 Stratigraphic 30 8.3 Finds 31 8.4 Environmental 31 1 A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down| HE551506-AMW-HER-Z2_SR_B20_Z-RP-LH-0001 8.5 Concluding remarks 31 9 Storage and curation 32 9.1 Museum 32 9.2 Preparation of the archive 32 9.3 Selection policy 32 9.4 Security copy 32 10 Tables 33 11 Figures 35 Abbreviations List 36 References 37 Appendix A Trench tables 41 A.1 Trenches 1101 to 1111 41 Table of Tables Table 10-1 Finds
  • Congress of Archaeological Societies (In Union with the Society of Antiquaries of London)

    Congress of Archaeological Societies (In Union with the Society of Antiquaries of London)

    Congress of Archaeological Societies (in union with the Society of Antiquaries of London). OFFICERS AND COUNCIL. President : The President of the Society of Antiquaries : SIR HFRCULES READ, LL.D. Hon. Treasurer W. PALEY BAILDON, V.P.S.A. Hon. Secretary : H. S. KlNGSFORD, M.A. Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, W.i. Other Members of Council : G. EYRE EVANS. PROF. J. L. MYRES, O.B.E., D.Sc., M. S. GIUSEPPI, V.P.S.A. F.S.A. ALBANY MAJOR, O.B.E., F.S.A. COL. J. W. R. PARKER, C.B., F.S.A. ROLAND AUSTIN. O. G. S. CRAWFORD, B.A., F.S.A. W. PARKER BREWIS, F.S.A. MRS CUNNINGTON. R. G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., F.S.A. MAJOR W. J. FREER, D.L., J.P., REV. E. H. GODDARD, M.A. F.S.A. H. St. GEORGE GRAY. WlLLOUGHBY GARDNER, F.S.A. W. J. HEMP, F.S.A. E. THURLOW*LEEDS, M.A., F.S.A. J. P. WILLIAMS-FREEMAN, M.D. Hon. Auditor : Assistant Treasurer : G. C. DRUCE, F.S.A. A. E. STEEL. COMMITTEE ON ANCIENT EARTHWORKS AND FORTIFIED ENCLOSURES. Chairman : SIR HERCULES READ, LL.D., P.S.A. ' Committee : THE EARL OF CRAWFORD AND BAL- SIR ARTHUR EVANS, D.LITT., CARRES, K.T., P.C., LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.S.A. V.P.S.A. WlLLOUGHBY GARDNER, F.S.A. A. HADRIAN ALLCROFT. H. ST. GEORGE GRAY. COL. F. W. T. ATTREE, R.E., F.S.A. W. J. HEMP, F.S.A. G. A. AUDEN, M.D., F.S.A.
  • The Wessex Hillforts Project the Wessex Hillforts Project

    The Wessex Hillforts Project the Wessex Hillforts Project

    The The earthwork forts that crown many hills in Southern England are among the largest and W most dramatic of the prehistoric features that still survive in our modern rural landscape. essex Hillfor The Wessex Hillforts Survey collected wide-ranging data on hillfort interiors in a three-year The Wessex partnership between the former Ancient Monuments Laboratory of English Heritage and Oxford University. Hillforts Project These defended enclosures, occupied from the end of the Bronze Age to the last few ts Project Extensive survey of hillfort interiors centuries before the Roman conquest, have long attracted in central southern England archaeological interest and their function remains central Andrew Payne, Mark Corney and Barry Cunliffe to study of the Iron Age. The communal effort and high degree of social organisation indicated by hillforts feeds debate about whether they were strongholds of Celtic chiefs, communal centres of population or temporary gathering places occupied seasonally or in times of unrest. Yet few have been extensively examined archaeologically. Using non-invasive methods, the survey enabled more elaborate distinctions to be made between different classes of hillforts than has hitherto been possible. The new data reveals Andrew P not only the complexity of the archaeological record preserved inside hillforts, but also great variation in complexity among sites. Survey of the surrounding countryside revealed hillforts to be far from isolated features in the later prehistoric landscape. Many have other, a less visible, forms of enclosed settlement in close proximity. Others occupy significant meeting yne, points of earlier linear ditch systems and some appear to overlie, or be located adjacent to, Mark Cor blocks of earlier prehistoric field systems.